Transparent conducting oxides (“TCOs”) are important components for many applications, such as but not limited to: photovoltaic cells, flat panel displays, touch screens and architectural glass. Current methods of deposition, such as sputtering, are typically used; but production costs are in need of reduction; and quality of the product films need to be improved for various applications and also for providing layer uniformity over large areas. Previously, In2O3 deposition by ALD has been accomplished using InCl3 with either H2O or H2O2 as the oxygen source. Although useful for coating planar surfaces, this method suffers from several limitations. First, the InCl3 chemistry requires high growth temperatures of 300° C. to 500° C., and yields a low growth rate of only 0.25-0.40 Å/cycle. In addition, the InCl3 has a very low vapor pressure and must be heated to 285° C. just to saturate a planar surface. Furthermore, the corrosive HCl by-product can damage the deposition equipment. But the greatest limitation of the InCl3/H2O method, especially for coating nanoporous materials, is that InCl3 can etch the deposited In2O3. Consequently, nanoporous materials require very long precursor exposures that are likely to completely remove the In2O3 from the outer portions of the nanoporous substrate.
An improved ALD process for In2O3 has also been sought for many years and a number of alternate precursors have been investigated including β-diketonates (In(hfac)3 (hfac=hexafluoropentadionate), In(thd)3 (thd=2,2,6,6-teramethyl-3,5-heptanedioneate), and In(acac)3 (acac=2,4-pentanedionate)) and trimethyl indium (In(CH3)3). Unfortunately, these efforts were unsuccessful. No growth was observed using β-diketonates with water or hydrogen peroxide, while trimethyl indium did not yield self-limiting growth.